The Washington state Supreme Court has upheld the state’s strict
anti-spam law, overturning a ruling by a lower court. The Supreme
Court ruled last week that the burden that senders of unsolicited
commercial e-mail (spam) are placed under by the state law is a
requirement of truthfulness. This prohibits them from forging
headers or faking addresses when sending messages to or from
Washington based computers.
It was also ruled that the anti-spam law does not violate
federal interstate commerce regulations, after the lower court had
said that it unfairly burdened companies because it required them
to distinguish between Washington residents and those living in
other states. The ruling stated that the burden of truthfulness
“does not burden commerce at all but actually facilitates it by
eliminating fraud and deception.”
This appeal decision overturns a ruling of last year that found
the state’s anti-spam law of 1998 unduly restrictive and
burdensome.
Eighteen US states have now passed some form of anti-spam
legislation although, while similar laws are moving through
congress, the country does not have any federal anti-spam laws in
force.
